OSX and Xbox360

[MacFanUK]

Looking for some advice please.

I'm considering getting an AppleTV but just wondering if I should just use my xbox360 instead. Does anyone use their xbox as a media centre? Is it possible to sync and stream from osx to xbox?

Thanks

 

[kjr39]

The software that you're looking for is called Connect 360. I used the demo and didn't care for it...

http://www.nullriver.com/products/connect360

 

[darkgroove]

But most importantly, you need to have your videos encoded so they can be read by the 360. This software, which I think is actually pretty good, does not transcode your video. So if you think you can throw an MKV at it, you will be sorely disappointed.

 

[rspeaker]

I tried Connect360, an didn't like it. I told it to stream my iTunes movies and TV shows, and everything showed up in one long, alphabetical list. It was a mess.

I use a Playback by Yazsoft. With it, I added my Movies and TV Shows folders within the iTunes folder, and it shows everything properly sorted by TV show, season, and Disk-Track number. Much, much better than Connect360.

(Don't know about transcoding, as all of my videos are in an iTunes/iPhone/iPod-friendly format. The 360 plays them just fine. Just be aware, anything with DRM will not play.)

 

[DeusInvictus7]

Streaming with either Playback or connect360 is fine as long as you're ok with the interface on the 360, which I am not a particular fan of. I have Connect360, and I try not to use it since I don't really like the interface, and the amount of menus to go through to get to what you want. Sorting of movies is quite messy, folders sometimes don't show up properly.

That is one of the reasons I bought the apple tv, since it has a much more simple, intuitive, and more Mac-like interface, and the fact that it has AirPlay, which is my main reason.

 

[rspeaker]

Streaming with either Playback or connect360 is fine as long as you're ok with the interface on the 360, which I am not a particular fan of. I have Connect360, and I try not to use it since I don't really like the interface, and the amount of menus to go through to get to what you want. Sorting of movies is quite messy, folders sometimes don't show up properly.

That is one of the reasons I bought the apple tv, since it has a much more simple, intuitive, and more Mac-like interface, and the fact that it has AirPlay, which is my main reason.

I tolerate the folders (it's not too bad, usually about 4 or 5 levels to drill down) because I have to. I have an SDTV. I would LOVE an AppleTV. My roommate and I watch several TV series that are off the air, and sometimes (like West Wing) we'll go a month without watching an episode, and then we have to go, "Where were we again? What was the last episode we watched?"

As soon as he buys an HDTV, I'll buy an AppleTV.

 

[StruckANerve]

I have been kind of frustrated using my Xbox to stream content because I can't seem to find a proper encode for the videos I want to stream. I don't know if it's just me or what, but I notice a very slight stutter when the camera is panning left to right. Almost like the picture skips across the screen. It is barely noticeable and my wife and other people don't notice it all but it bugs me. Even Netflix videos do it. I have tried several types of encoding formats using handbrake and they all do it.